Anxiety and bloating???

[darkinnocenteyes]

Can stress and anxiety cause extreme bloating? You see i've been stuck in this cycle for a long time where I get extremely bloated and uncomfortable... this all started with me thinking I was pregnant and wanting to be pregnant and my stomache got all bloated and my body started doing weird things associated with pregnancy, so I was sure I was pregnant cuz my tummy was getting super bloated... I went to the hospital because I had a small hernia right above my belly button where on the inside the skin was attached to my abdominal wall so there was a pop where it detached because my tummy was gettin so big and I got scared, went to the hospital, and they told me I wasn't pregnant and that there was nothing wrong with me. So I started freaking out because of all the weird sensations I was having thinking there was something wrong with me, that I had some disease... I smoked pot too so that didn't help with my paranoia... its been a year now and the doctors told me i had IBS and that I am OCD... I don't think its IBS though, I think the bloating only happens when i think about being scared of my stomache swelling and constantly thinking about it. it even dislocated my sacrioliac joint the bloating got so bad and obveously that didn't help. I have body issues as it is. For the last few months though i have been calming down and trying to convince myself that I just have OCD and that if i wasn't contantly thinking about my stomache swelling/other fears associated with other symtoms, that it would go away, that it was all in my head, but that these were physical manifestations of stress and if I just stopped being stressed out by my stomache swelling and bodily feelings that all of this would go away. I am pretty sure I am right about this because I have been getting steadily better. I am sleeping again at night, my hips are almost back to their normal position and I have been doing things to destress every day like work out etc. stuff that will distract me from my body. When I start thinking positively, my stomache starts to go down and the pain in my hip bones subsides. If you all could reassure me that there is nothing wrong with me other than stress doing these things to my body then I really think this would speed up my healing process. I've gone through so much stuff in the last year worrying about my health and hurting and feeling all sorts of pains, i am just ready to go back to normal. It seemed like everything i got afraid of happening to me, happened within minutes of me getting scared... which is scary in itself. imagine having a thaught about something that makes you afraid and within minutes it happenes to you. I even walked around in a parnoid fog for a while. I've had CT scans... I've had blood tests, Ive had X rays. i've taken anxiety meds, I've gone to the doctor like ten times. I'm not a hypocondriac, these were real symtoms, but even after all the tests and stuff I know I have no serious health problem, that has been confirmed by my doctor. They checked for everything. I went to the chiropractor and he confimed that my sacroiliac joint and my neck popped out of place so I know I'm not imagining things. I know I have had extreme anxiety, but the problem is that my anxiety came from thinking there was something wrong with me, and me thinking I had something wrong with me came from anxiety. It's just been a year of me trying to convince myself that, even while still enduring all the symtoms of being scared. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I just really would like some reassurance... it would help me to continue to move foreward a ton.

[thewickedcity]

I have this same problem.. not with swelling or hip pain but with heart issues.. I constantly fear I'm going to have a heart attack. Like you I've had multiple doctors visits, ER visits, EKGs, etc. I find myself checking my pulse constantly. However, after months of this I've finally come to realize that my heart has to be fine.. I've had so many doctors tell me it's fine. It's not easy, but I've gotten to the point where I'm like.. I just have to accept it. It sounds like you've gotten to that point too and that's good because you're absolutely fine. If you've been checked by a few doctors and they said you're fine, then you are. Like they said, it's just a manifestation of your stress. A lot of people with other anxiety issues or high stress get this medical anxiety too. It's a tough thing to deal with because the symptoms are real.. you just have to remember that although the symptoms are real there is no underlying problem.. remember that they're harmless. I really hope this helps because I know how scary it can be. If you want to talk, send me a PM. :]

[Stacey]

I've had similar problems with my anxiety. I have mainly health anxiety where I keep thinking I have life threatening illnesses like meningitis or I'm having a heart attack. Anxiety is a funny thing, it can cause so many strange things to happen to your body. It can cause a lot of gastrointestinal issues like feelings of being bloated or nauseous, so it is very likely that this is what you're experiencing. It takes awhile to accept these symptoms for what they are (and they are harmless) but if you want to speak to someone about it or if it's something that's seriously interfering with your day to day life, I would bring it up with your doctor.